GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will be holding The Goldspys, an end of the year awards ceremony, on Monday, April 28. The inaugural awards show is a spin-off of the ESPYs presented by ESPN that will honor and highlight the success of ECU student-athletes both on and off the field.

There will be 16 awards presented and the Pirate Nation is encouraged to vote on the Best Upset, Clutch Performance and Record-Breaking Athlete-of-the-Year awards. Fans can vote by clicking here. Voting will open on Wednesday, April 16 at 9 a.m. and will close on Wednesday, April 23 at 5 p.m. ET.

“It has been such a pleasure to work on The Goldspys committee this year,” Jill Jelnick, a senior outfielder on the softball team and vice-president of SAAC, said. “Bringing the first athletics awards banquet to ECU is an honor.”

Some of the awards presented include, but are not limited to, Male and Female Athlete-of-the-Year, Breakthrough Athlete-of-the-Year and Coach-of-the-Year. A Lifetime Achievement Award will also be presented to a former Pirate who has continued to excel after leaving East Carolina University. Additionally, The Goldspys will present the Mr./Mrs. Pirate Award to a male and female student-athlete who excels in both the classroom and in athletics, and has contributed to his or her community.

“I came up with the idea to have an event like this and it has been really cool to see it come to fruition,” Goldspys Chair and sophomore women’s tennis player Nicole LaDuca said. “I am grateful that (Director of Athletics) Mr. (Jeff) Compher was on board with the idea when he first arrived at ECU. We couldn’t have put it together without the help from (administrators) Rosie (Thompson), Shelley (Binegar), Jamie (Quinn) and the 14-member student-athlete committee.”

The Goldspys award show is exclusively for East Carolina student-athletes, coaches and athletics staff members.